A week would pass ever since the day they went tank shopping as Pomorie was once again in a meeting. Maho was laying out the news for this meeting as matches were once again underway.
"Okay I got a call from Ami as Srebarna is now out on crutches. She's going to have some help until her foot recovers but our situation as a whole is looking very precarious as we don't know if we can continue holding Pravda back." Maho began as the students in the group knew this was some good news.
"Yeah I figure. Some of us need to keep working harder if the rewards will be so sweet." Pomorie added as the others were confused on what Pomorie just said.
"What was that you just blurted out of your mouth?" Kafka asked Pomorie as she wanted to know what she meant. Solti, Noemi, Stefanik and Istria listened in. Olivia and El were away from their keyboards for a moment as they had taken some time to get a few things done. Maho continued as she went to answer their question.
"Oh, I spotted Pomorie and her friends aboard Ami's tank factory ship as they were getting tanks to beef themselves up. It's about time that something had to be done about Yogurt Academy and the reorganization of their team. I was there picking up parts in bulk for the jagdtigers." Maho decided to let them know about what was happening. The students began getting excited.
"Yogurt's getting new tanks! Jagdtigers! When will this all come?" Noemi asked as she wanted to figure out when this would all be sorted out. Maho lowered her hand in a gesture as she wanted to calm them all down.
"Settle down, when I was there, Ami told her that it would be five weeks before the tanks arrived so this meant that there are four weeks left. As for the Jagdtigers, another week or two as some of them hadn't been used in a while and needed to be tested and one of them needed to have its barrel replaced after what happened during last year's match which the barrel bent like rubber and snapped." Maho told them when these tanks will be coming as the students were excited by all of this and smiled among each other. One question however lingered over their heads.
"What caused one of their barrels to break?" El asked as she had got back from the meeting. She was wiping her face down with a towel as she had thrown something on as she had been busy cleaning herself.
"One team, Rabbit Team. And El where were you? You've missed the news that Yogurt Academy's getting new tanks." Maho knew full well what Ooarai was capable of pulling off. She decided to focus on what El was doing for the time being as she was absent for some of this meeting.
"Oh I was in the bathroom in the shower. I will be preparing to go to sleep soon." El gave her response as Maho nodded with approval.
"Oh okay and other news, Srebarna has been removed from her leadership of team captain and Pomorie has been named her replacement." Maho decided to also let everyone know of this. The students smiled with approval.
"Oh nice. That means we can finally have someone nice enough to cooperate with." Solti sighed with relief. She had it at this point with Srebarna's hot-headed and rigid strategies that often ended in failure. Olivia came in onto the scene next as she looked like she was undergoing something nasty. The cheek where she was cut on had several bumps with white heads poking out of them. Other spots were red scabs as they were once the white headed bumps. Some of the students looked on with concern.
"What's going on with your apprentice, is she getting an acne breakout?" Kafka asked if that was the case as she noticed the bumps. Maho nodded no as it wasn't the case for them.
"Olivia's cheek where the cut occurred is now infected. I sent her to the nurse and it was clear that she's fighting off some bacteria that got in and is the cause of the bumps. Only way to get rid of them is to pop them and rub ointment all over. I was relieved that the infection wasn't life threatening, but she said it was painful popping the white tips. She's going to be rubbing ointment all over the area until it heals." Maho told them about what was going on. The students sighed as it was just a non-life threatening infection. Maho also decided to get to some miscellaneous news that she just received. "Also I got a text from Shiho Nishizumi that she would like to observe tomorrow's match so make sure you give her a warm welcome when she comes."
"Oh nice, I haven't seen Shiho in a very long time. I wonder how she would react when we get the news that we'll put on a show for her?" Pomorie was looking forward to seeing Maho's mother.
"I'm pretty sure she'll be thrilled to see you. But she's worried about Kaya-San from the text that I read." Maho responded as her mother was moreover worried about her apprentice rather than the match.
"I'm pretty sure Sophia would be as well. I mean I rarely hear from my own mother." Pomorie sighed as she heard the girl's mother but not her own.
"Speaking of which it is the first time you bring up your own mother, what does she do for a living?" Maho asked Pomorie as she seemed curious.
"My mother is a housing specialist meaning she sells property in the form of housing and my father is a construction worker. My father sadly can't work like he could when he was younger due to his knees and my mother isn't around that often so I was sent here." Pomorie gave her answer as Maho nodded.
"Okay I will call this meeting off early and Pomorie, as your new position, I expect you to plan and solve problems within a few seconds. If you need help, just ask." Maho was the first to leave the chat as the others did much the same thing. Tomorrow's match was going to be a big one.
The teams respectively arrived in their designated areas as the students were busy getting themselves prepared. Olivia and Maho were sitting around as Olivia seemed nervous. Koume was also by the sophomore's side as she tried to comfort her.
"Don't sweat it, the infection will clear itself up. Just keep applying the ointment every night and it will heal." Koume told her to not keep fretting over the infection. Maho just hugged Olivia mostly to distract her from rubbing her face.
"You'll get better I promise you." Maho just kept telling her two adults approached as they wanted to speak with the girls.
"Well if it isn't the heir of the Nishizumi style itself." Shiho began. Maho got up as she walked over to Shiho.
"Yes Shiho, I wasn't expecting you to come to this match, what brings you all the way to this match?" Maho asked what she was doing here. Shiho nodded as she wanted to figure out what was going on.
"I heard the news that Kuromorimine was on a losing streak, is that true?" Shiho asked as she wanted to see if Maho would be honest.
"Yes and the worst part about is that we were doing so well at first but then Pravda decided to throw everything they had at us and its taking effect, we tried bringing in heavier tanks, switching tactics and leaders. We're trying everything at our disposal to turn things around or at the very least, stop Pravda in its tracks." Maho decided to admit what was going on so far. Shiho nodded with approval.
"I like your honesty. However I have got the news of your apprentice and what happened to her a while back. I would wish to see her." Shiho did like the fact that Maho was still being honest about the situation. She didn't want to lie to her own mother about the situation that was happening. Sophia looked at Shiho as she was worried.
"You mean my daughter?" Sophia asked if Shiho wanted to see her.
"Yes Sophia." Shiho responded as she turned back to Maho. "I've got reports of her getting injured in a match and I would like to see if she's alright. I'll figure out what happened from there."
"Okay. Hey Olivia, Shiho wishes to speak to you." Maho told her apprentice to come meet her front and center. Olivia walked up to Maho and Shiho as Shiho looked down to her.
"Yep a scratch across the cheek and several white lumps. I would definitely want to figure out what had happened." Shiho gently brushed the scratch with her thumb making sure that the scratch didn't get cut open.
"Well we were at SSISSN as we were attending a match when we heard the rumors that someone was stealing their food. A couple of students were enjoying some snacks when someone decided to go out of their way and take it. Olivia and another student went out of their way to chase the thieves down. They made progress and got into a fight and Olivia took a glass bottle to her face which shattered." Maho explained what exactly happened. Shiho listened.
"Did she and the said student catch the thieves?" Shiho asked if she was successful in her plan.
"Yes she was. She looked a lot worse when we found out who they were, black eye, busted lip, bloody nose. She had a fight." Maho responded as she described what her friend had looked like. Shiho nodded.
"Who were the thieves if she caught them?" Shiho asked. Maho looked at her mother as she had the answer.
"The leader was Mika and I didn't know about the other two." Maho gave her answer as Shiho knew the name Mika was all too familiar with her.
"You mean the borrower. Yeah she's always causing trouble. Glad your apprentice took care of her." Shiho inspected Olivia as she noticed the white bumps right near the cut. "Olivia hold still for a moment." Shiho took her two pointer fingers as she found a big one. She began squeezing hard as the only way to relieve the bumps was to pop them. Olivia winced as it was a little painful for her. Suddenly the bump popped and out came the white stuff as well as a couple drops of blood due to how hard Shiho was squeezing the spot. "The only way to get rid of bumps like those is to pop them, taught us to be tough like steel."
"Yeah I understand. When will you be around since I think I want to get rid of the rest of the bumps before we put the ointment on to prevent their return?" Maho asked as she wanted to figure out when Shiho was going to stick around.
"I'll be around with Sophia this afternoon so I expect the both of you to impress us." Shiho responded as she patted Olivia on her head. "Good luck." Maho nodded as she and Olivia walked away. Unaware Pravda was planning their success.
The match was on a set of open plains, as for Kuromorimine and its allies, deployment of the tanks in this group was unfavorable. Yogurt Academy was around with Blue Division and the Croatian gang. Erika and Olivia looked at each other as they had the look that neither one of them trusted each other.
"Miss Nishizumi might have gotten off nice with you so far but she's popping all those lumps on your face at the end of the match regardless and boy they will hurt like fire." Erika warned her that she wasn't finished. Olivia just looked at Erika as she began to speak.
"Listen I've been through worse with Mika so Shiho will be gentle as she isn't throwing shards of glass across my face." Olivia responded as she was willing to take anything Shiho was going to throw at her.
"When did you get so tough?" Erika asked her as she wanted to see her strength that she managed to put up.
"Not like I can beat up Mika and take her hits back. Now focus with the match coming up." Olivia told Erika to get ready for the upcoming match and not their bickering. The cannon fired off as it was a signal for the match to begin. Istria spoke over the radio from her Matilda 2 first as she wanted to know their condition.
"So how is everyone coming along as Maho gave orders for us to hold our positions." Istria told them as she just received orders.
"Hold our positions, okay." Olivia responded as Maho was giving them light orders so far. Erika spoke next.
"I really wish I could take the fight to the enemy." Erika sighed as she didn't want to sit around and do nothing. Istria began giving her some words.
"Maho wants us to conserve on oil so we are going to hold our position." Istria told her as it was Maho's orders. Erika poked her head out of the turret bored.
"What are we going to do?" Erika grumbled as she didn't want to sit around and do nothing.
"We have some time so keep an eye out." Pomorie addressed Erika to keep calm, panic would seal their fate especially with Erika's tank being the flag tank. Dalmatia was looking out as some of the students in their group were busy playing games.
"And that is another nailer right in the coffin." Syrah smiled from her Semovente 105 tank destroyer. She was playing her handheld console as it was a tank game. She had knocked out two tanks so far as her tank went up in flames as she was knocked out. She had been knocked out by Nekota. "Aww come on." Syrah sighed with frustration. Olivia kept her eyes out as she decided to continue looking around. She then noticed something on the horizon. Pravda's tanks were coming.
"All tanks prepare for firing, Pravda spotted at twenty-five hundred meters, begin firing when I say and when the tanks get closer, smaller tanks join the action." Olivia gave her orders as she wanted to show Pravda that they may be crippled but they can put up a fight if needed to. The tanks were quickly closing in as Olivia assumed command. "Fire." The Kuromorimine tanks opened up first as they could take Pravda on at very long range. Two T-34's were taken out as the tanks just kept advancing, zigzagging to avoid the incoming fire. Olivia's crew looked for more targets to hunt down as She fired again but instead of an orderly line of fire, the tanks fired individually as they were going to be a little more flexible. She fired again scoring another T-34 onto that list. The Semovente fired as it knocked out a T-34 as the other tanks began to open up, their smaller guns would do nothing against Pravda's tanks but it would be enough to help their effort.
"Fire!" Pomorie shouted as her vickers fired. It did but the shot bounced off of the front armor of the T-34. The T-34 fired as the shot flew over their heads. Olivia knew Pomorie was in danger as her turret rotated to take on the oncoming T-34. She was now zeroing in on the incoming tank.
"Send it to the ground!" Olivia gave the order as her Tiger 1 fired. The T-34 was struck from the side as it had been knocked out. Then the SPG's arrived as they began firing their long ranged shots. Pomorie looked out of her binoculars as she noticed one of the tanks was familiar with the group.
"Oh crap it's the Kv-2." Pomorie sighed. Erika knew her position was in danger, despite knocking out several Pravda tanks, it wasn't enough to hold them back for long.
"Everyone fall back!" Erika called out as the Kuromorimine tanks began to withdraw, firing on the move. Many tanks knew this position was too good to abandon as they knew they needed to hold and allow Erika to retreat before withdrawing away.
"Erika you keep going I'll hold them back and you get yourself to a new position." Olivia told them as her group will stay and fight to give Erika time and to hold Pravda up.
"Okay." Erika gulped as Olivia and the others kept firing, they were going to hold until the last tank. Olivia and the others fired again as another T-34 went down, a white flag popped out as Katyusha knew she needed to speak to Nonna about this.
"Nonna, some tanks are staying put, what do I do?" Katyusha asked as she wanted Nonna's advice. Olivia and her friends weren't going to go anywhere. Nonna thought about this for a moment as she was leading her IS-2 against Magyar and Count.
"Just bypass them as they aren't important. Pursue the Tiger 2 that is Erika's tank." Nonna gave her orders just to ignore them as they aren't important. Katyusha nodded as she decided to tell the remaining tanks in her group their new orders.
"Okay just bypass the tanks holding their position, we're going after the flag tank." Katyusha gave the order as they were just going to bypass Olivia and the others that were holding out. The other tanks nodded as they split up and began rolling along past them. Olivia seemed confused about why Katyusha wasn't going to waste her time with her while Erika retreated. Erika was the real prize.
"Hey, how come Katyusha isn't going to fight us, she just went right past us." Olivia opened the hatch to her turret and got out her binoculars. Katyusha and the other tanks just went right past them. Olivia decided to radio Maho about this as this situation was very peculiar and something that she was not expecting. "Maho you there?"
"Yes I am here Olivia, what is it that you need?" Maho asked as she wondered what her apprentice wanted. Olivia began to speak.
"Okay Maho something strange has happened, Katyusha's tanks just rolled right on past us, no resistance, no struggle, she just went right around us." Olivia told Maho that Katyusha simply ignored her and went around. Maho nodded as she began making plans while studying Katyusha's movements.
"With your tanks getting more into enemy lines I suggest you start pulling your tanks out, I will guide you on where you need to go." Maho told Olivia that she needed to move to get themselves out of there. But where was she going to blow a hole into their path in order to extract them.
"Okay got ya." Olivia responded as she began speaking to her group. "Okay tanks we're going on a bit of an adventure as we don't know where we will go but as of now we are going to follow Maho's words. Let's begin moving." Olivia's tiger was the first to move from its spot as the Blue Division tanks were the first to follow The Croatian gang followed by next as Yogurt Academy left their positions last.
Meanwhile Katyusha was pursuing Erika and was getting closer and closer to her to achieve their objective. Katyusha looked on the map as she noticed something.
"Nonna, the tanks we've bypassed are on the move." Katyusha began to speak as the tanks were moving.
"I don't know where those tanks are going but please be observant about what is happening." Nonna told Katyusha to watch her back as she wanted to make sure these tanks were going somewhere. Katyusha began speaking and making her predictions.
"I bet these tanks will swing southward and try trapping our tanks especially when we are pursuing the flag tank." Katyusha made her prediction about the pocket on what will happen. "All tanks in my squad, be observant about the tanks we bypassed, I believe they will try firing into our rear if they decide to return." The other tanks began to nod as they continued to make their advance onto Erika. Katyusha believed they would head southward as she was completely unaware of them moving in another completely different direction.
Olivia was leading her group as she was trying to keep in touch with Maho to see where they needed to go.
"Okay so where you want me to go as we're just heading north for the time being?" Olivia asked as she was giving her position.
"Okay I want you to turn…" Then silence came over the radio as something was going on. Olivia tried grabbing the radio as she tried to speak.
"Hello? Maho?" Olivia was getting nervous as her head set wasn't working so were the radios.
"Nothing working Olivia, we're cut off from the outside world." The radio operator called out as she tried to get the radios working to no success.
"Okay, whose radios are still working?" Olivia asked as they wanted to see if they could contact Maho to let her know what the situation was evolving to. Istria and El tried as they got no response.
"Nada." El responded as she had nothing from the radio.
"I got no signal." Istria told Olivia as she had nothing either. Pomorie decided to test her radio out as she tried to get into contact with Maho
"Hello Maho, it's Pomorie, we're testing to see if we can contact you." Pomorie began. She, Rila and Varna nervously waited for a response as they tried to get into contact with her.
"Yes this is Maho I've been trying for two minutes to get into contact with Olivia and I keep getting nothing." Maho responded as Pomorie smiled with relief, at least her radio was still working.
"Okay I got you, hey Olivia, my radio is still up." Pomorie decided to let her know about this.
"Okay thank goodness." Olivia sighed with relief, at least one of the group had good reception. Pomorie knew she needed to focus with Maho and let her know what was going on.
"Okay Maho I just want to let you know that Olivia and much of my group had lost radio connection to the rest of the team and I'm the only one who still has some reception." Pomorie filled Maho in the information about what was happening. Maho nodded as she began to speak.
"Okay Pomorie, I want you to take over the group since you still have good reception and you will be following my orders." Maho told Pomorie that she was now in charge. Pomore nodded as she spoke.
"Okay I got ya." Pomorie responded as Maho began laying out instructions.
"Okay, now I want you to start moving west while my tanks blast a hole in Pravda's lines so you have a point to get out from." Maho told Pomorie about the plan as Pomorie nodded.
"Okay I got ya." Pomorie responded as the tanks began grinding north for a little bit longer as Pomorie began speaking to the group. "Now let's turn." Pomorie responded as the tanks turned to the left and began going in that direction. They were going to find a way out of the pocket and hopefully back to the front lines. Klara however was acting as the reserves as her group had the tank destroyers in them. Now would be a good time to begin hunting the group down. She observed them moving westward as she had the opportunity to take them out right here before they can reach their main lines. Klara began waving out and deploying the tanks as she got them to begin moving.
Pomorie and the group were slowly going along as they wanted to make sure everyone kept up with each other. Suddenly an explosion went off as Pomorie opened the hatch to the turret to get a good glimpse of what was around her. She had failed to realize someone was sneaking up on her. Klara lowered her hand suddenly as she gave the signal to fire. The tank fired as the shell landed around them. Pomorie knew she was in trouble.
"Pravda is coming! All tanks speed up." Pomorie gave the order as her tank was the first to accelerate followed by the other tanks as they were going to try to evade Pravda from trying to close the trap. Olivia's tiger turret turned as it went out of its way to try keeping Klara at bay.
"Stay away from us!" Olivia gave the order to fire. The Tiger fired but the shot missed. Olivia however was using HE and saving the AP rounds for when the tanks got too close. Another HE shell was loaded as the students continued to receive bombardment from Pravda. The bombardment this time was much more intense as they were much closer. A M13/40 from the Croatian gang received a hit from a SU-122 on the rear as the tank spluttered and came to a stop with a white flag popping out of it. Pomorie was starting to get nervous as she saw that one tank had already gone down from the group.
"Everyone begin zig zagging!" Pomorie shouted as that one tank was causing her some concern. The tanks began their maneuvers as they tried to dodge and weave from the incoming fire. Olivia meanwhile knew that her tank was the only one of the group strong enough to take out a T-34.
"You think you can mess with us but I will defend my troops to the last." Olivia's tiger fired at a T-34 that was getting too close for comfort, the tank was promptly knocked out as a white flag popped out. The Tiger 1 began to slow down as it was going to take the rear of the formation. Pomorie was getting worried.
"Olivia what are you doing?" Pomorie asked as she tried to figure out what her plan was.
"I'm going to keep Pravda off our tail. You need to get out of here!" Olivia called out. Pomorie, El and Istria knew they were worried.
"What about you, Maho needs you for the Tiger." El asked why she was risking it. Olivia knew what she was doing and it would be the hope that the rest of them escaped.
"Pravda is hot on your tail. I will act as the bait." Olivia told them as she had no regard for herself but rather for everyone else to make it out. Pomorie knew that she needed to be clear with her.
"Olivia don't be ridiculous. Maho wouldn't like that." Pomorie told her as the tank explosions continued to happen as Klara's tanks continued to get closer.
"But do you want to get out of there yourself?" Olivia asked Pomorie as she would probably just keep slowing them down even for when the time for escape was crucial.
"Yes I want us to get out in the best condition possible." Pomorie spoke as Maho interrupted the conversation.
"What are you two rattling on about?" Maho asked as she wanted to figure out what was going on.
"Maho, I don't want to slow my group down with Pravda on our heels." Olivia spoke as Maho heard it. She was surprised about what was going on.
"Oh my, the radios are working again." Maho heard Olivia's voice from the radio. "You guys are coming into range." It was only a little farther before they were safe but Olivia's tank stopped and began to turn.
"Hopefully you have that hole opened for when we start pouring in." Pomorie told Maho that the hole was made upon which they can escape.
"The hole is cleared so hurry up." Maho told Pomorie, she decided to focus on Olivia who was behaving erratically from the rest. "What are you doing Olivia?" The Tiger tank continued to turn as it was getting ready to hold them back.
"Prepare to keep Pravda at bay." Olivia gave the orders as the other students prepared and they yipped with excitement.
"Kaya-san?" Maho asked nervously. An explosion from a nearby tank fell short but it was enough to rattle the tiger.
"Not so fast, I won't let you harm my team-mates." Olivia told the Pravda tanks as she fired the tiger. The shot missed but it caused the Pravda tanks to weave past it. Maho was getting more and more scared for her apprentice.
"Please Olivia pull out with the rest of your team." Maho pleaded for her to keep going but Olivia knew she had a job. The Tiger 1 instead began heading in the opposite direction as Nonna's group began appearing over the horizon.
"My mentor, you have ambitions as high as the Alps, wisdom as deep as the Masurian lakes, I say let Pomorie pull back without me, I will keep slowing her down." Olivia told Maho as her Tiger 1 rushed in at full speed ramming the IS-2. Nonna felt a loud bang on her tank as Olivia was intending on holding her back. The Tiger 1 fired as the shot connected with Klara's T-34 tank, a white flag popped out. "But remember, even when I'm gone, from this match, everyone else will get back safely." Olivia decided to pick up the radio as she had some words for Pomorie. "Pomorie! Tell the group to hurry up and go!" Several T-34's surrounded the Tiger 1 as they began firing shots at the heavy tank, some bounced off as Olivia sent one last shell into another T-34, a white flag popped out in response.
"We're pulling out!" Pomorie signaled for the rest of the group as the tanks rushed at full speed away to the distant shot of a paintball landing. A white flag popped out from the Tiger 1 as Olivia had been knocked out.
Maho was observing the situation as the others came back to safety as there were two tanks missing from the group aside from that, most of the group made it back without any hits. Maho began to speak.
"I knew why my apprentice was telling you to go on without her, if she would have come with you she would have dragged Pravda along with her. She made the right choice in the end by staying behind." Maho sighed as she dipped her head down.
"I'm sure you will see her later, it's not like she was going to die but she wanted us to escape." Pomorie told Maho that even when she was knocked out, she will still come back. Even with Pomorie's words reassuring Maho, more salt was going to get rubbed into the wound.
"Maho, this is Emi, Erika told me it's over, the flag tank on our team has been knocked out." Emi told Maho about it. Maho sighed as if losing the match was bad enough but her friend went out there to try slowing Pravda down. Sophia and Shiho were looking at the screen as they turned to each other.
"Your daughter of yours has some serious guts, she went out there and decided that she wasn't important compared to everyone else and decided to let them get away but not herself." Shiho began as she was surprised.
"Yeah she knows the value of the individual compared to the team. An individual like herself isn't important compared to the value of an entire team, it's like the Trolley Problem she could either sacrifice herself so that her team could benefit or sacrifice her team to benefit herself. She knows that benefiting everyone is the best outcome to do even at the cost of one's self." Sophia told Shiho about how she views how using a team could make an outcome. Shiho sighed as she knew one thing.
"You could be right, your daughter knows about the group and it would continue to survive as a whole even if you lose a few members of the group." Shiho told Sophia about this as this was the preferred method of keeping everyone going.
"A victory cannot be achieved without making a sacrifice Shiho. Olivia knows this better than anyone else that I've known in my life." Sophia told her. But the reality was it was a lose lose type of situation, Olivia's tank was knocked out but it made no change to the outcome of the match, Kuromorimine still ended up losing.
"I would like to see her after this." Shiho told Sophia about this.
All the schools managed to clean up and get the students back to their dorms hours later. The students were busy discussing among themselves as they wanted to get the results from the match.
"So Katyusha wasn't held up by Olivia and just simply drove past her. I think all the tanks except for Pomorie lost their radio signal so we couldn't contact them. Only when they got close we were able to come into touch with them again and Pomorie managed to get back with the entire splinter group only losing two tanks in the process." Maho began as she wanted to assess the situation that was going on. Erika wasn't too pleased.
"I knew Pravda would like to take out every signal tank but simply bypassing Olivia and the group is a big concern, what drives Katyusha to have the balls for this type of aggressive play?" Erika asked as she seemed worried. Maho decided to clear her voice first.
"I don't know exactly for sure but we lost contact with her for about fifteen minutes. I was able to speak to Pomorie though as she still had access to me." Maho squirted some ointment onto her hands and began rubbing it together. Erika nodded as she began to speak.
"Yeah I heard she was the leader of the splinter group, how come she didn't come to me when I needed the help when she was encircled?" Erka asked as she was impressed that Pomorie got the group mostly intact but her movement was odd.
"Moving directly southward to you would have put her on a collision course with Katyusha so we agreed for her to move west to me and Klara and Nonna tried coming after her but Olivia decided to make a stand and let Pomorie and the group to escape." Maho began rubbing the ointment on Olivia's cheek as Shiho managed to pop the white lumps as they were now red and scabby.
"Well at least your apprentice did one thing correctly and that was to slow Pravda down before they could truly harm the rest of the group so I can respect that." Erika spoke as she gave Maho the news.
"You two are still learning, I will hate to choose my replacement." Maho sighed as she knew this year was flying by and choosing a replacement would be hard.
"Yeah let's focus on the matches coming up and not that." Erika responded.
[A/N]: Pomorie's leadership skills have been put to the test and for a first time leader, I say she did all right. But was it the best decision to make, was the question to move west to Maho instead of south and helping Erika? I would like to hear your opinion on whether or not this was a good idea. Things will continue to get interesting, See you next chapter. Have a nice weekend everyone.